Technology in the Writing Center

Like some professors I encountered, some in the writing center believe that there is no space for technology in the writing center. Buck and Shumway stated "writing centers have for years endured an uneasy relationship with technology." .... violates the very foundation of the writing center philosophy."
I actually feel in some ways technology will stop the fix it shop issue. With programs like "Grammarly", you wouldn't have to look over much as far as grammar or word usage, which is more of things that are done towards the end of the paper. More focus can be committed to the composition of the paper and collaboration of the though process.
There was something also mentioned where they felt the writing process would be loss due to computers. I digress. I think the writing process is a delicate one which the writer can get more thoughts down before losing them in the thought process than with handwriting. There is a certain degree of thinking that goes on when you are handwriting and I feel a fluid typist obtains the same degree of the thought process. Yes, people who have to look at the type writer or have issues typing may have typing issues and should write things out first.
I am not a fan of online tutoring. I think the process is broken up too much to get the most out of a session. Online tutoring because of the delay, is really best when a paper is toward the final drafting process. The fix it shops that the writing center is trying to go against.

Writing Across Curriculums

In this weeks readings it was about the knowledge or lack there of, of writing across curriculums. In Muriel Harris's reading, I understood where it was mentioned that the tutors had a more effective session when they were not so familiar with the topic than those who were. Tutors who have too much knowledge on a topic can tend to come off a superior in a session. The idea is to not to become so familiar with a topic that you lose sense of what should be entailed inside of a paper.

I have had experience with writing across disciplines when visiting the writing center. I had a psychology paper that was due, and my tutor wasn't a psychology major. That didn't hinder our session at all. It added the benefit that he wasn't familiar with the topic and had questions that he posed, if it wasn't understood.

In the paper "Connecting WID and the Writing Center: Tools for Collaboration", I felt that it might actually be a good plan to incorporate into training of tutors. While it may not be a one size fits all, any additional options that a tutor may have at hand to use can be of value to someone. I believe in the writing center the use of being a flexible tutor will have more value to the tutor and the tutee than following a structured routine for everyone that comes inside looking for help.

I had a sort of enigma moment when reading that so many have a misconception of what the writing center is. I know we have focused on the tutees and the English department. I just can't grasp why the writing center is shunned upon. It is a great place that offers students support and assistance they would not otherwise get from their peers or professors. Imagine trying to get your friend to look at your paper every time you wrote one for a class, it can become quite tedious and tiresome. Four to six classes 3-4 papers a piece, it is tiring even thinking about proof reading or peer reading this for 4-6 semesters.

I disagree that faculty should not be mandated to participate in writing center workshops or tutoring programs. Why shouldn't they? maybe it would help to avoid some of the misinformation and poor stigma attached to the Writing Center. In MCC they made it mandatory and I never felt as if the professor was pressured or in a bad mood. While I do believe the students should not be forced to go more than once, and once being the introduction to the resources offered, I see no pain in actually taking advantage of learning what a session actually entails and what they can expect. Yes, it will fill up gaps of time, but maybe it can help just one student. That to me makes it work it.